…is taken!
Been meaning to comment about this item for a while and was reminded yesterday when I popped into the city and saw the offending ads once again.
Dell computer has been running some ads down here in Sydney promoting their computers as being cool, hip and stylish (the theme seems to be the somewhat lame “New black” idea), seemingly on the basis that they now come in a range of different bright colours.
Hate to have to tell the Dell people this but…
…in the world of computers, the position “Cool” has been very securely occupied by Apple for about…oh, the last 25 years at least.
One of the great marketing classics is “Positioning” by Al Ries and Jack Trout.
(Hey, I know we direct response copywriters aren’t suppposed to pay attention to anything from the “regular” marketing world, but what can I say? I’m not your ordinary direct response copywriter!)
Ries and Trout talk about the “position” that a product or brand occupies in the mind of the customer or prospect. Crucially, they make the point that only one product or brand can occupy a particular position.
Also, equally important, a product or brand can only occupy one position.
Let me offer an example.
Before Ford completely botched the marketing, Volvo cars were known for one thing. Safety. They owned that space in the mind of the consumer. And for a long time the company was content to own that position and they did pretty well.
Then some genius decided that selling tons of cars to families with children and other safety-conscious motorists wasn’t good enough. They decided that henceforth Volvos would be more…well, I’m not quite sure what the message was supposed to be. It involved being more sexy and stylish, but exactly what was never quite clear to me.
The result was that Volvo lost a clear position and now struggles to stand out from the crowd.
Back to Dell.
Apple is the absolute epitome of “cool” in the world of computers. If your primary concern when buying a computer is style, being “cool” and making a statement, you buy an Apple. Apple have this space completely sewn up and have done for years.
Simply offering computers in different colours (which Apple does anyway) is not going to help Dell lure customers away from Apple.
Now, it could be argued that Dell are aiming for the “cool” segment of the PC market (maybe people who deep down might like an Apple but for cost or other reasons won’t buy one). OK, I might accept that. But what’s the point? It’s a second rate “copycat” position that doesn’t offer Dell any enduring advantage.
Plus, when I look at the Dell website they don’t seem to follow through with the idea. So what was the point of the ads? Seems something of a waste of money to me.
The point of all this for smart direct response marketers?
Be very clear on what it is you offer your customers and what you stand for. We usually talk about this in terms of the USP (“Unique Selling Proposition”) but it’s very close to the idea of positioning.